LA28, the committee behind the upcoming Olympic Video games, has quietly added high-profile Republicans with deep ties to President Trump to its board of administrators.
The 35-member volunteer board now consists of former Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Bakersfield Republican who resigned in 2023, and Reince Priebus, who served as Trump’s chief of workers for the primary six months of his first time period and, earlier than that, as chair of the Republican Nationwide Committee.
Diane Hendricks, a significant GOP donor who has given tens of millions to Trump’s campaigns, and Patrick Dumont, who owns the Dallas Mavericks, additionally joined the board. Ken Moelis, an funding banker who labored with Trump within the Nineteen Nineties and predicted the businessman would win the presidency in 2016, can be listed as a board member.
The Trump-adjacent influx to the board of administrators, first reported by Politico, is the most recent signal of the president’s potential involvement within the Summer season Video games.
It isn’t clear why the administrators expanded the board or the factors used within the choice course of. A spokesperson for LA28 didn’t instantly reply to questions.
Kevin McCarthy
(Related Press)
Los Angeles enterprise guide Denita Willoughby and philanthropist Maria Hummer-Tuttle are additionally newly listed as board members.
“We’re thrilled to welcome this achieved group to the LA28 Board who will assist create an unforgettable Video games for athletes and followers alike,” Casey Wasserman, chair of the 2028 L.A. Olympics organizing committee, wrote in a press release.
Wasserman couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
Though previous presidents have taken a largely ceremonial position when the Olympics are held on U.S. soil, there are indicators that Trump is looking for extra involvement. The 2028 Video games coincide together with his last 12 months in workplace.
In August, he signed an government order naming himself chair of a White Home activity drive on the Video games. The president views the occasion as “a premier alternative to showcase American exceptionalism,” in line with a White Home assertion.
Trump on the time famous that he’d be prepared to ship the army to Los Angeles to guard the Video games. In June, he despatched the Nationwide Guard and U.S. Marines to town amid escalating immigration enforcement actions, prompting pushback from Mayor Karen Bass, Gov. Gavin Newsom and plenty of locally.
Wasserman attended the chief order signing on the White Home and thanked Trump for “leaning in” to planning for the Olympics.
“You’ve been supportive and useful each step of the way in which,” Wasserman advised the president on the time. “With the creation of this activity drive, we’ve unlocked the chance to degree up our planning and ship the most important and, sure, best Video games for our nation, ever.”
